2026 InvestmentNews Excellence Awards – The Independent Financial Group Award for Advisor of the Year (Regional – West)
Del Mar, CA - April, 2026
Carolyn Taylor was named an excellence awardee in The Independent Financial Group Award for Advisor of the Year (Regional – West) Category. The 2026 InvestmentNews Awards celebrate excellence and the professionals who are making a difference in the financial services industry. This award recognizes the most outstanding advisors in the main regions of the U.S. from an advisory firm or team, regardless of business size and model.
Methodology and the awards program process consisted of 5 stages: Stage 1 – Nominations – The call for nominations is open to all wealth management professionals and organizations – including financial advisors, advisory brokerages, BDMs, fund providers and service providers – from across USA. Nominations are open from December 1, 2025 to February 27, 2026 11:59 pm EST. There is no fee to submitting a nomination. Stage 2 – Research. The InvestmentNews Awards team will conduct research and draw on knowledge and information gained through InvestmentNews to support and supplement nominations received and to ensure that no one deserving of recognition is missed. Excellence awardees will be determined from both pools of information. Stage 3 – Excellence Awardees Once all nominations are considered and research is complete, excellence awardees will be selected in each category (except the Lifetime Achievement category) and notified via e-mail or phone. All excellence awardees are then invited to complete a detailed submission, which is an opportunity to address the category criteria in more detail. All submissions will remain confidential unless otherwise marked and will not be shared with any third parties other than the judges. Excellence Awardees will be officially announced in April 2026 on the event website and promoted in InvestmentNews magazine and online channels. Promo packages to leverage your achievement across your marketing and promotions will be available for purchase. Stage 4 – Judging All submissions from our excellence awardees are forwarded to the independent judging panel comprising industry leaders and senior representatives. The panel will assess and vote for their winners in each category according to the relevant category criteria. Voting will commence in May 2026 and their judgment will be impartial, balanced, incisive and fair. Any judge with a conflict of interest in a category will recuse themselves from judging that category. Stage 5 – Winners Using a simple points system to aggregate judges’ votes, the excellence awardee with the top score in a category will be named the winner. Winners will be announced at the awards show on June 24, 2026 and on this website. They will be promoted in InvestmentNews. Promo packages to leverage your achievement across your marketing and promotions will be available for purchase.
When judging this category, the following criteria will be considered:
• Exemplary business development strategies to prospect and retain clients in innovative ways.
• Knowledge, understanding, and communication of investment opportunities and strategies for their client’s portfolios
• Client retention and relationship strategies, and how it set the advisor apart from the competition with a unique value proposition
• Examples of ways that the advisor is educating the industry/clientele on investment strategies
• Demonstrations of mentorship and/or other efforts such as pro-bono work, servicing underserved communities, community work etc.
• Approach to regulatory compliance
At the time of this disclosure, Weatherly Asset Management has not paid InvestmentNews for any promotional packages, and Weatherly is not required to advertise in or subscribe to Investment News.
Inclusion in this program is not representative of any one client’s experience and is not indicative of Weatherly’s future performance. Weatherly is not aware of any facts that would call into question the validity of the ranking or the appropriateness of advertising this award.
About Weatherly Asset Management, L.P.
Weatherly Asset Management, L.P. is a Registered Investment Advisor, located in Del Mar, California, dedicated to providing high quality, holistic and innovative wealth management services to high-net-worth individuals, small businesses and institutional clients since inception of the Firm in 1994.
Our comprehensive approach to all aspects of a client’s financial life, the extensive experience of our principals, and the accessibility of experts, set us apart from other firms.
Our primary business focus is money management, with each account individually managed to maximize wealth preservation and growth over time. We also provide advice related to retirement planning, tax planning, philanthropic planning, financial planning and college planning, as well as estate planning and wealth transfer guidance. Our goal is to provide clients with as much information as necessary to effectively manage portfolios and help achieve their financial goals.
Weatherly Asset Management, L.P. is the investment advisory division of Weatherly Asset Management, Inc. As an independent partnership, the Firm is wholly owned and operated by the partnership.
For information on our wealth management team, and for a full list of services we provide, please visit:
http://www.weatherlyassetmgt.com/team/
For information on our ADV filings and Compliance, please visit:
https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/106935
http://www.weatherlyassetmgt.com/adv/
If you would like to learn more, please contact:
Carolyn P. Taylor
858-259-4507
Carolyn@weatherlyassetmgt.com